Sunday, June 18, 2017

“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of
tension waiting to be struck.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Being the seventh defenseman in a sport where generally six
play on any given night means one does a lot of waiting and playing on a lot of
short notice. For the Washington Capitals, that role has been Taylor Chorney’s
for the past two years. Last season, it meant getting into a career high 55
games in the regular season (largely due to an injury to Brooks Orpik) and
another seven games in the postseason. This season, his participation numbers
were more modest, more in line with his role. This season, his participation
was limited to 18 games, which is still the second highest number of games in
which he participated in a season since 2009-2010, when Chorney dressed for 42
games with the Edmonton Oilers.

As one might expect from a player in a seventh defenseman
role, the opportunities were brief and sporadic for Chorney. Seven times he
played in what was essentially a one-off, dressing for an evening and then
returning to the press box. His longest stretch of games this season came in
Games 44-49, a six-game stretch in late January.

The odd part about Chorney this year (and last year as well,
and we’ll get to that) is that while you will find few fans who will think,
“hey, let’s get that guy in the lineup,” he was not a liability where it
counted.Washington was 13-3-2 in games
in which he dressed this season, 42-16-6 when he did not.Eighteen games is a relatively small sample
of games from which to draw conclusions about his value as a defenseman, even
as a coincidental good luck charm, but a 128-point pace in games in which he played
is not something one should return to customer service because the style points
weren’t here (the Caps had a 115-point pace with Chorney in the press box).

And what makes the coincidence of his presence in the lineup
and wins a bit stranger is that a more energetic performance in the offensive
end was not tied to success as far as wins and losses.The Caps were just 3-0-2 in games in which he
recorded a point, 10-3-0 when he did not.They were 9-2-2 in games in which he recorded a shot on goal, 3-1-1 in
games in which he did not… little difference there in standings points pace.

Fearless’ Take… This idea of “More Chorney, More Wins” is
not exactly unexplored territory for Chorney, either, at least with the Caps.In 73 career games with the team, Washington
is 53-13-7; again, a 127-point pace per 82 games.

Cheerless’ Take… Yeah cuz, well, there is something for
staying in your lane, too.The Caps were
5-3-0 in games in which he skated more than 14 minutes.Not bad, all things considered.But they were 8-0-2 in games in which he skated
less than 14 minutes.

Odd Chorney Fact… Taylor Chorney was an "even" or better player in 17 of 18 appearances this season.

Game to Remember… January 1st vs. Ottawa

New Year’s Day is a time for new starts, for new
directions.For Taylor Chorney it would
be something not experienced in 2,147 days and 83 NHL games.It came early in the third period of what was
a 1-1 game between the Capitals and the Ottawa Senators.The Caps had the shock troops on the ice –
the fourth line of Jay Beagle, Tom Wilson, and Daniel Winnik along with the
third defensive pair of Brooks Orpik and Chorney – applying pressure in the
Senator end.Winnik fought off Curtis
Lazar in the right wing corner and freed the puck to Wilson in the faceoff
circle. Wilson backhanded it to Chorney
at the right point, who fed in across in turn to Orpik at the left point.Orpik sent a return pass to Chorney, who
one-timed the puck through a maze of bodies and past goalie Mike Condon’s right
shoulder into the back of the net at the 2:43 mark.The Caps had a 2-1 lead that they would hang
onto for the last 17 minutes and change for the win.For Chorney it was his first goal of the
season, on the only shot on goal he recorded for the game, and it was his
second career game-winning goal, his first since potting one in a 4-1 Edmonton
Oiler win over the Dallas Stars on February 15, 2011.

Game to forget… January 24th vs. Ottawa

In an 82-game regular season there will be games in which a
mass loss of memory is helpful.The
January 24th meeting of the Caps and the Senators qualifies.The Caps fell behind 1:46 into the game on a
shorthanded Senators goal and were down a pair of goals before the game was
five minutes old.When the Senators
scored a power play goal less than 12 minutes into the second period to take a
3-0 lead, the competitive portion of the game was all but over.The Caps did try to get their scorers onto
the ice for more chances to claw into the lead, and that meant less ice time
for players like Chorney.He skated a
team low among defensemen of 18 shifts and did not record a single shot attempt
in his 14:04 of ice time.He was not on
ice for any of the three goals against, but it was a very quiet night in a very
forgettable game all around as the Caps dropped a 3-0 decision in Ottawa.

Postseason: did not play

In the end…

Taylor Chorney had a rather strange 2016-2017 season.The 18 games played makes for a small
population of games from which to see consistency among his numbers, but the
team’s success with him in the lineup was inconsistent with his possession
numbers.He skated with nine defensemen
this season at 5-on-5, and eight of them had better possession numbers apart
from Chorney than alongside him (numbers from stats.hockeyanalysis.com), John
Carlson being the lone exception, but he skated just 2:27 in 5-on-5 ice time
with Chorney.But winning cures a lot of
ills, and the Caps did their share of winning with Chorney in the lineup.That is not to say that Chorney was a key
contributor – how many seventh defensemen are?But he was not the liability he could have been in that role,
either.Everyone has a role to play,
some large and some small, and when the opportunities came from time to time in
Chorney’s modest role with the club, the results were about as good as could be
hoped for.

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

The Washington Capitals ended the 2016-2017 as one of 12 franchises in the NHL never to win a Stanley Cup. Of that group, only the St. Louis Blues (48 seasons), Buffalo Sabres (45 seasons), and Vancouver Canucks (45 seasons) have gone longer never having won a Cup than the Capitals (41 seasons). Six teams came into the league after the Capitals entered the league in 1974-1975 and have won Stanley Cups: Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils (1976-1977), Edmonton Oilers (1979-1980), Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche (1979-1980), Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes (1979-1980), Tampa Bay Lightning (1992-1993), and the Anaheim Ducks (1993-1994).

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